Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1887-06-04
HOW GLOVES ARE MADE.
Interesting Facts Concerning an Impor-
tant New York state Industry.

Interesting Facts Concerning an Impor-
tant New York state Industry.
Nobody, 50 far as we know, has ever
disputed the proposition that one-half
Of the world does not know how the
other half lives; and we have little fear
Of contradiction when we make bold to |
declare that probably one half of the
people of the United States do not
know where their gloves come from.
Of course it is generally known that
gloves Of fine kid such as ladies wear,
and gloves Of a certain form which
fashion prcscribcs for men, are brought
from abroad, but whence comes the
great supply Of all other gloves? The
answer would not be very far wrong ii
one were to say from Fulton County,
n. Y. Four-tifths of the gloves made
in America, it is estimated, are manu-
factured in the county named, and the
manufactures which makes gloves else
where are in great part the children of
Fulton County, indebted to her for
their nurture and their establishment in
life.
The headquarters Of the gloyemak-
ing industry in Fulton County are for
| ty-fye miles northwest Of Albany, in
Johnstown township. The villages of
Gloversville and Johnstown in that
township contain population of about
10000, seycn-eighths Of whom are
gloye-makcrs There are upward Of
$50 glove manufactures in the section.
Gloye-making in what is now Fulton
County was begun early in the present
century. Upon the passing away Of
Sir William johnson, the famous In
dian agent Of colonial times, and Of his
son Sir John, Jealous Tory who
fought iierccly for King George,
the Dutch farmers of the neigh
borhood looked about for some bet
ter means of support than were
offered to them by the soil, which was
not fitted for husbandry, although there
was good grazing land upon the stony
hillsides. A shrewd family from Con.
necticut are popularly credited with in.
Producing into the neighborhood tho
manufacture of buckskin gloves. There
was in the convenient North Woods il
those days a supply of material for thi
manufacture so great that nobody woulC
have thought it could ever be exhaust
ed, but the demand of the American
people for gloves proved to be still
greater, and the North Woods dee
ceased to be depended upon by the Full
ton County gloyc-makcrs years ago
To-day the gloves manufactured in Clio
vcrsville and Johnstown are made o
skins brought from the most distan
, parts of the globe. The great bulk ar
buckskins and sheepskins, but there ar
many others which the glovemaker
use-among them sealskin, dog-skin
, East India cowhidc and the skin of tn
South American water-hog. The bull
of the buckskin comes from Mexico an,
, Central and South America, The dee
= of the tropics is covered with a heavie
skin than covers the deer of these lat
tudcs, and the finest sheepskin come
, from South Africa, and is that of til
Cape hair-shccp. The coarser the wool
the finer the skim is a gloycmaker'
saying. All manner OF furS, too, 90 t
!, Fulton County, to be used in finishin
the gloves.
E The business of glove-making i
0 Fulton County amounts TO about IS
y 600, 600 yearly. The wages Of the mos
! skillful workcrs-the table cutters Il
they are called--run from $50 to $50
month; block cutters get from 500 t
$6j monthly, and machine girls earn
according to their skill, from s. to 81
n and even Sl4 week,
+ The skins of which gloves are mad
: 90 through a very exhaustive varict
of processes. Some of them are soakc
/ in watts variously from three days t
! four weeks, after which they get
0 scraping from the bean worker
They are then dried into parchmcn
then soaked in water, then 'milled
. in oil, then put upon the beam agai
/. and secured of oil and natural greas
+. with alkali, being repeatedly dried i
+ the course of this various treatmen
e After the alkali securing they are pr
/. upon the "breaking' machine, and al
j then "hand-staked" with blunt too
to render them pliable. Then they .
on to the "buck-tail' or emery whce
n and from there into the identical o
T. aud natural grease of which they wer
Il secured with such pains, Then the
h are wrung out and colored, then agai
p "broke-staked' and "linished," the
l. smoked, and then turned over to II
glove-makcrs, who promptly "stake
them again, cut them either on Il
block or by hand (''tablc' cutting
= "silk" them, sew them, do much ell
:. to them. put buttons on them, fit the
IS over metal hands heated by stean
sort them, and put them up in Il
pasteboard boxes in which they n
sent to market. The gloves made
y Fulton County are of all sorts, an
h range from lady's kid to the co,
If boys gauntlet splendid with taSSe
ct and gold cord --Hqrper'S Bd:n.
~ How Hair-Pins Are Made.